MOBILE, Alabama - The T-shirts for the fifth annual Captain Munnerlyn Football Camp on Saturday had a different color scheme than those of the previous four. That's because the camp's sponsor has a new NFL team for the 2014 season. The campers wore the purple and gold of the Minnesota Vikings this season instead of the blue and silver of the Carolina Panthers.

The Vikings signed Munnerlyn to a three-year, $15 million contract in March after the cornerback spent his first five NFL seasons with Carolina.

While Munnerlyn will need to transition to Minnesota, he won't have to adjust to being a Viking. He was a peewee superstar for the Navco Park Vikings growing up in Mobile.

"I feel like I'm starting over from when I was a little kid," Munnerlyn said. "I was a Navco Viking."

But it wasn't nostalgia that brought Munnerlyn to Minnesota.

"The contract was pretty good, too," he said. "I couldn't turn that type of money down. But I'm going to miss Charlotte, North Carolina. They started my career. I appreciate that organization for taking a chance on little ol' Captain Munnerlyn.

"It's a big adjustment. I was with Carolina for five years. I knew the state, I knew the fans, I knew the ins and outs about the program. Now I have to relearn everything. I've got to learn how to get to practice from my house. And the weather's the biggest change for me. Me being from Mobile, Alabama, it's definitely going to be a challenge playing up there outside. I've just got to get used to that and just go out there and grind."

A former football and track standout at Murphy High School, Munnerlyn was a seventh-round draft pick out of South Carolina by the Panthers in 2009. He started nine games and also served as the Panthers' primary punt returner in his first two NFL seasons. Over the past three years, he's started 41 regular-season games, including all 16 last year.

In 2013, Munnerlyn was the constant in the Carolina secondary, which overcame an outbreak of injuries to help the Panthers post the second-best defensive stats in the league, win the NFC South and reach the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Munnerlyn set a career high with 73 tackles, returned both his interceptions for touchdowns to give him a team-record five Pick-Sixes in his career and equaled his career high by knocking down 12 other passes this season.

Munnerlyn said Minnesota wants more for its money than his play on the field, though.

"They say I've got the attitude and the swagger to make the defense better," Munnerlyn said. "That's why they brought me in -- to be a vocal leader on and off the field."

Munnerlyn participated in OTAs and minicamp with the Vikings. He said he's looking forward to helping Minnesota's defense improve.

"It's been great," he said. "They put me in instantly to be a leader in the secondary. We've got a young secondary. I think I'm the oldest guy in the secondary, and I'm only 26 in my sixth year. They brought me in to be a leader. I've got to keep stepping up and keep everybody growing in the secondary. We've got some young, great players. We've just got to grow them up."

Minnesota had a 5-10-1 record in 2013, the Vikings' third losing season in the past four years. Only one team gave up more passing yards and no team gave up more touchdown passes than Minnesota last season. The Vikings yielded an average of 30 points per game, the worst mark in the NFL in 2013.

Minnesota has a new coach this season, with Mike Zimmer coming aboard after six years as the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals. During the offseason, Minnesota signed nose tackle Linval Joseph from the New York Giants, used the ninth pick in the draft on pass-rushing linebacker Anthony Barr from UCLA and took quarterback Teddy Bridgewater of Louisville with the 32nd choice.

"I think they're putting the pieces together," Munnerlyn said of the Vikings. "They brought in a new head coach, a defensive-minded coach in coach Zimmer. They drafted Teddy Bridgewater. We've already got one of the best running backs in the NFL in Adrian Peterson. And they tried to stack the defense up in free agency. They signed me and some other guys to help the defense out. Last year, their defense wasn't that good. When you can stop people on defense and have a great running game, that's a winning football team."

The Vikings hold their first practice of training camp on Friday.

"Me being accustomed to the same training camp for five years, it's definitely going to be different this year," Munnerlyn said. "I feel like I'm going to be a rookie all over again."